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  “Riles, I’m going to talk now, and you’re going to listen. First, whatever you think of me not wanting you here—you can wipe that thought right out of your pretty little head.” He gently tapped my nose before continuing. “Second thing, yes, I am a dumb guy. Yes, my first instincts are to keep the hot girls here. I’ve only known them for a day—how much am I supposed to find out about them in a day? Even after the one-on-ones yesterday and the dates today, I still know barely anything about any of the girls. So yes, I’m being stupid when it comes to them. And hell, Riles—I am so freaking sorry for what I said and how I acted today.” He dropped my hand and pressed his palms to his eyes.

  I couldn’t help it. I really wanted to hold the grudge longer than a few hours, but with him clearly on the verge of tears and the crack in his voice, I couldn’t take it anymore. I moved closer to him and laid my head on his chest.

  “I get it Trav. I probably overreacted more than I should have. Nicki just knows how to press my buttons and it’s so aggravating,” I whispered into his chest.

  His body rumbled with a laugh as he ran his hand up and down my arm, sending chills through my body.

  “I’m so, so sorry Riles,” Travis whispered, his voice cracking. “I can’t go through how I felt today, after the fight, ever again. I love you, Riles.”

  I found his hand and gave it a squeeze. “I love you too, Trav. I don’t ever want to feel that way again either. And I’m sorry too.” I took a deep breath and quickly pushed out what I wanted to say. “So, I’ve decided I’m going to give up on Nicki. Clearly there is too much drama there and I can’t stand for it to really come between us again. If you want to keep her here, you can, and I won’t say anything. Hell, I will avoid her to the best of my ability. I just hope one day you’ll finally see what I see.” Travis laughed and pushed my shoulder while I smiled into his chest.

  “Well, thank you. I’m glad that drama will be over with.” He continued to run his hand up and down my back, which was slowly lulling me to sleep. I could feel his hand starting to slow on my back, but my eyes were too heavy and my body felt too weak to even attempt to move off him.

  Just as I started to feel myself drift off to sleep again, I felt Travis lean down and kiss the top of my head, then whisper, “But for the record, if I had to choose, it’ll always be you, Riles. Always.”

  I woke up bright and early, stretching out under the covers. The sun was just peeking over the horizon and there was a gentle breeze flowing through the room. It was weird waking up by myself. For the last two weeks, I had slipped out of the main house and spent every night talking with Travis at the guest house. We would chat about the girls for the first 20 minutes, then move on to everything and anything else we could think of. It felt like the old days, before the show and I was so glad our argument hadn’t ruined our friendship.

  Since I had always gone over there so late, we always ended up falling asleep. Which forced me to sneak out of the house and do my stupid morning run down the beach.

  Which, okay, let’s face it—I was kind of enjoying. The last few days, instead of just running back to the house, I would run the opposite way on the beach until the property line ended. Then I’d run back up to the house. It definitely helped me clear my head and feel less stressed about still being here.

  I had kept my promise and avoided Nicki the best I could. But I swear the woman thrived on drama—she always seemed to be searching me out. Which was so ridiculous and I didn’t know why she even bothered, but apparently this was a serious competition to her, and I was her biggest threat.

  Travis was actually listening to what I had to say about the girls. There had been another elimination and Travis and I had talked the whole night before, going over each girl. A few girls really did know how to be a completely different person in front of Travis. Since he wasn’t going to kick Nicki to the curb, the next best was someone from her posse. And Travis shocked us all on elimination night when he decided to send two girls home. Jim had tried to step in and explain to Travis the show was on a perfected schedule and changing the eliminations was going to cause issues. But Travis pulled out the “When I signed on, you said I could do whatever I wanted” card. He also mentioned he had no connection to either of the girls so keeping them on was cruel. So on elimination night, Whitney and Krista, two of Nicki’s followers, were the ones to leave.

  Nicki had laughed—yes laughed—when Whitney and Krista weren’t given an olive green bracelet. Well, okay, so she was standing right next to me and I heard it clearly, but anyone else would probably have thought it was a little cough. I think that was when I figured out Nicki was in this to win it. She had even faked out her supposed friends. She only cared about herself and would do anything to climb to the top. I really hoped Travis would get the hint and kick her out soon.

  Something had also happened that the producers never really thought about. One of the girls got homesick and wanted to leave the show. Jim tried to talk to Lena about staying, even offering her a phone so she could call her parents, but Lena had made up her mind and was already packed and ready to leave. This really threw Jim and the other producers into a tailspin. We were now down to six girls in the competition. Jim grumbled that everything was falling apart and now instead of having a show running for 10 weeks; it was going to be a five week show.

  Travis had come up with a solution to that issue. Instead of having an elimination weekly, it would be bi-weekly or every three weeks, depending on what Jim felt like doing. This would also let Travis get to know the girls better and there would be more dates added on. Jim was reluctant to agree, but really didn’t have much of a choice, considering everything that had happened. When the other girls had found out what was going to happen, they were thrilled. Not only would they not be going home any time soon, but they would also be hanging out with Travis a lot more—a win-win situation in the girls’ books.

  Last night Travis said he had some things to go over with the producers about upcoming one-on-one dates. I hadn’t wanted to be around the girls after Travis left the house for the night, so I excused myself and hid out in my room. I took a long shower, letting the water rain down on me, relaxing me. Then I curled up in my own bed and pulled out my laptop—which I had to keep in my room at all times and not let the girls know about, since they weren’t allowed to have any access to the outside world. I had wanted to catch up on some TV shows, but I only watched maybe five minutes before I had fell asleep. I woke up again around three and shut everything down, sliding the laptop back in its case and under my bed, before falling back into a dreamless sleep.

  Now, even though I didn’t have to sneak anywhere, I got out of bed and threw on a pair of green shorts and a gray tank top. I laced up my running shoes and headed out down to the beach for my morning run. I took my same route, just starting at the main house instead of the guest house. It added about a quarter mile on to the run, making it a complete two mile run today.

  Breathing heavily, I slowly took the steps to the backyard, and collapsed on the grass, laying on my back and staring up at the blue, cloudless sky. My mind started to wander, thinking about what today’s events would be. Travis had mentioned something last night about there being a one-on-one date today. The first individual date of the show. I really didn’t care who he took on the date, but I prayed it wasn’t Nicki.

  When my breaths evened, I picked myself off the grass and headed back to my room to get myself ready for the day. The house was still quiet when I walked in; I glanced at the clock in the hallway and noticed it was just after 6:30.

  Wow, I was up early today!

  No wonder the house was still quiet.

  I closed the door to my room, locking it and heading to the bedside table. I opened the drawer and dug behind the few paperback books that were stacked in front, and pulled out my phone. It was another thing that was banned from the house, but I was able to have. I only looked at it about once or twice a day here—which was amazing, since before the thing was typically
attached to my hands every minute.

  I slid my finger across the screen to unlock it and saw I had a few new text messages. I opened the first one that was just sent five minutes prior.

  Mom2: Hey hun! Happy Birthday! Hope you have a fun day!

  Mom2: PS. Tell Travis to take it easy on you today. ;)

  Whoa. The show had taken up my entire life and I hadn’t paid attention to the date while I was here. It couldn’t be May 27th already, could it? I glanced down at the phone, pulling down my menu bar and sure enough May 27 flashed back at me.

  How in the world did I forget about my own birthday?!

  My phone vibrated with an incoming call, I glanced and the screen and smiled.

  “Hi Mom!”

  “Happy birthday, honey!” Mom said cheerfully.

  “Thanks. I miss you guys.”

  “Oh, everything is just the same here. Nothing to miss. How is the show?” Mom asked.

  “Ugh, you wouldn’t believe some of these girls. But overall, it isn’t horrible. And I think there are a few real contenders,” I said, thinking of Taylor and Kara.

  “Well that’s good. I always hoped Travis would end up with a great girl.” Mom sighed into the phone, making me feel like she wanted to say something else.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “Oh, nothing. Your dad is at work right now. He said he called and left you a message earlier today,” Mom continued.

  “Yeah, I haven’t really had the chance to check my phone today.”

  “Well, I suppose. I’m sure you have things to do. I hope you have a wonderful day.”

  “Thanks Mom. I love you and miss you,” I said into the phone, feeling like I was about to choke up. I’ve always had a tight relationship with my parents, even visited them at least once a week for our weekly dinners. The show had put a damper on a lot of things in my life.

  “Love you too sweetie. Bye.” Mom hung up the phone before I could get any more emotional.

  I checked the other three messages, which were all Happy Birthday greetings from other friends and listened to Dad’s message—which made me teary eyed—then I scrolled back to Travis’ moms messages and read them through again before responding.

  Me: What do you mean, take it easy?!

  Mom2: Oh….you’ll see! ;)

  Me: Being secretive is not cool!

  Mom2: You’ll have fun, promise! Just don’t tell Travis I mentioned anything to you.

  Me: Ugh!!

  Me: And thanks. It’s weird having my birthday here with a bunch of girls I don’t really know.

  Me: Or like…

  Mom2: I believe it! But it’ll be a great day, I know it!

  Me: If you say so. I gotta get cleaned up now.

  Mom2: Okay, I’ll talk to you later! Love ya!

  Me: Love you too. Miss you! Bye!

  With that weird cryptic message in my head, I quickly showered. I spent more time putting on my makeup than I usually did. A little eyeliner, light eye shadow and mascara were basically the most of my makeup regime. I blow dried my hair and styled it into a low loose side ponytail, draping my hair over my shoulder, leaving my side swooped bangs down.

  I opened the closet and stared at the contents. T-shirts and sweatshirts, that was what I owned. I saw something peeking out behind one of the t-shirts in the corner and moved all the hangers down. There, in my closet, was a summer dress. The top of the dress was a pale yellow, with random scatters of tiny red flowers. It had a sweetheart neckline and thick sleeveless straps. It was cinched at the waist and fell softly away from the body down to the knees. Halfway down the yellow turned into an upside down V of multicolored flowers, which floated out to create a flower lined border at the bottom of the dress. I reached out and touched the dress, causing a note to flutter to the ground. I scooped it up and read:

  Riles, I know you aren’t into dresses, but my mom said this would look great on you. And that you should wear it today. I told her she was crazy and you wouldn’t do it.. but what do I know?! Put it on. Look girly. I’ll see you soon!

  -Trav

  I smiled down at the note, setting it gently on the table, before walking back to the closet and pulling the dress off the hanger. I walked into the bathroom and slipped into the dress, staring at myself in the mirror.

  His mom was always right when it came to clothes, and this dress looked amazing on me. I felt like I did on the first night. Beautiful. It was a simple dress but it hugged my curves just right and hit me just above the knee. The color stood out against my newly bronzed skin—thanks to all those morning runs.

  I walked back to the closet to grab some shoes, when I saw a pair of black flip flops with floral pattered fabric straps. I smiled as I slipped into them.

  She thought of everything.

  Me: Thank you for the dress, it’s amazing!

  Mom2: Dress? I didn’t send you a dress.

  Me: Travis said you picked it out…

  Mom2: Oh hun, you and Travis are so oblivious.

  Me: What is that supposed to mean?!?!?!

  Mom2: Nothing.

  Me: UGH! You’re lucky I have to go downstairs!

  Mom2: Have fun!!

  Sighing, I shoved the phone back in the nightstand behind the books. I took one more look at myself in the full length mirror before heading out the door and down to the kitchen, where I grabbed a mug and filled it with coffee and added a large splash of creamer. I took a sip and relaxed against the counter.

  “Good morning, Riley!” Taylor bounded into the kitchen looking extra chipper today.

  “Mornin’,” I mumbled against my mug.

  Taylor poured herself a cup of coffee and stood there grinning at me.

  “What? Why are you looking at me like that?” I asked while brushing at my face in case I had something on it.

  “When were you going to tell me?” She still had that grin on her face.

  Wait? What?! How did she know?!

  “I…uh…I mean… I didn’t know…” I stammered trying to figure out what to say. I glanced over to where the camera crew were hiding out and they all had the same “oh shit” looks on their faces.

  “Eek! Happy Birthday!” She flew over to me and trapped me in a hug.

  “Oh… Right, my birthday. That’s today…” I mumbled patting her on the back looking over her shoulder at the crew who relaxed immensely. “Wait, how did you know it was my birthday?” I asked when Taylor released me.

  “There is a huge banner up in the living room.” Taylor smiled and led me out to the living room.

  I stood, mouth agape, staring at the large banner which said Happy 26th Birthday, Riley! Oh, yeah, this was embarrassing.

  “What did you do to suck up that much to Travis?” Nicki asked as she walked by us into the living room.

  I bit my tongue—literally. Couldn’t I just have one day where I didn’t have to deal with Nicki? Just one? Right when I was about to break my promise to Travis and put Nicki in her place, I heard a high pitched scream come from the doorway. Erin and Addison flew into the room holding three envelopes in their hands.

  “They are here! Group dates and one-on-one date announcements!” Erin squealed.

  “Well, open them. I’d like to know if I’m the individual date, so I can go freshen up,” Nicki complained from the back of the room.

  Freshen up? It was 8:30 in the morning. I just shook my head and turned my attention back to Addison who was opening the one-on-one date envelope.

  Riley,

  It’s your birthday and we’re going to have some fun!

  You’d better bring you’re A game!

  I’ll see you at 9 am.

  -Travis

  The other girls lost their excitement at the mention of my name. And I’m pretty sure I heard Nicki scoff behind me, but really, I didn’t care. Travis was taking me on a one-on-one date, and it was my birthday! I didn’t have to spend it with people I hardly knew. I got to spend it with my best friend!

  I just barely heard the
details of the two group dates. One was taking place tomorrow, the other the following day. That meant I could potentially hang out with Travis all day long.

  Yeah, this was turning out to be a pretty great birthday!

  At 9:00 I walked out of the house to find Travis’ car parked in the driveway. Travis was leaning against it, in his typical outfit and was wearing that damn sexy grin. I glanced back at the house to see if any of the girls were watching us. I couldn’t see anyone, and quite frankly at this moment I just didn’t care. I took off running to Travis and flew into his open arms.

  He hugged me close and kissed the top of my head. “Happy Birthday, Riles.”

  “Thanks,” I said taking a step back, then smacked him on the arm.

  “Ow, what was that for?” he asked rubbing the spot I hit.

  “Why did you have to go and put a huge stinking banner up for the whole world to see?” I asked getting into the car as he held the door open.

  Travis chuckled and closed the door heading over to the driver’s side. I took a moment to glance around his car. Two small video cameras were added to each side of the car, pointing at the driver’s seat and my seat. I turned to look behind me and noticed for the first time there was an SUV parked behind Travis’ car and the camera crew was piling into it. I relaxed just a little at the thought of them not being in the car with us, even though they had cameras on us. I could deal with inanimate objects that recorded me—maybe.

  Travis slid into the car and grinned, “So birthday girl, we have a big day ahead of us!” With that he took off down the long driveway.

  “Where are we going?” I asked as he turned out of the driveway in the opposite direction from the city.

  “What have we done every year for your birthday Riles?” he asked, sneaking a smirk at me.

  Oh man. I was not dressed for that!

  “Why on earth would you want me to wear this to go mini golfing?” I huffed at him, folding my arms across my chest.